I am looking for help planning an itinerary for 3 weeks in Southern Spain
 

Hi, my husband and I are landing in Lisbon Oct. 15 coming from Canada and leaving from Lisbon November 7th. We have already spent time in Barcelona on a previous trip and want to focus on southern Spain this time round including Madrid. We have rented a car which we are picking up in Lisbon.

Any suggestions for an itinerary?

Arriving in Lisbon on the 15th and haven't a plan? What are your interest? Nature? Culture? Food and wine?

You can pick up a copy of Rough Guides (Portugal and Spain plus Andalucía). The Michelin Regional Maps 576, 578, 592 & 593 and star planning your route. Maybe a copy of Fodor's Spain to get some ideas? There is a lot of country you want to cover, and not much time.

You can also download Maribel's Guide to Madrid for some of her insight.

We are currently thinking of going to Albufeira from Lisbon the the 1st day as it has been highly recommended to us. From there possibly Seville. We had thought of going up the coast to Valencia and across to Madrid. Do you recommend going up the coast or is it better to go directly to Toledo or Madrid from the Granada region?

I would recommend you to do a lot of driving in beautiful and diverse Andalucía, but not necessarily along the coast. Fabulous inland regions with lots of mountain landscapes, small villages and beautiful scenery.

From Sevilla (the queen of Andalusian cities), go South towards famous "white village" Ronda and the mountain region North/North-west of Málaga. http://www.turismoderonda.es/indexeng.htm

Perhaps spend a day or two in Málaga city at the coast, another captivating Andalusian big city. Fabulous atmosphere, sights, cafés, tapas bars, restaurants, shopping etc. Then you can go inland into the Axarquía region east of Málaga. http://www.rusticblue.com/axarquia.htm

Then you are close to small Nerja (pop 20 000) at the coast Still plenty of possibillities for a couple of beach days at this time of year. Popular with tourists, but Nerja has retained much of its Andalusian charm and character. Nine beaches, small and large, among the cliffs. Nerja is also known for the spectacular caves: http://www.cuevadenerja.es/index.php?lenguaje=en

Then you could drive up to Granada with the Alhambra ++, perhaps through beautiful village Alhama de Granada
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...d-of-town.html

...or along the spectacular "Suspiro del Moro"-road between the Med and Granada. http://www.holavalencia.net/2010/02/...and-almunecar/

After Granada, I recommend you go into the Alpujarras region. http://www.rusticblue.com/las_alpujarras.htm

Find your way out of here, and head in the direction of Valencia.

I think you have many options, and in part it's going to depend on how much driving you want to do. I am not particularly enamored of the coastal route you describe, but that's just my own tastes. If it were me, I would use three weeks to visit the main cities in Andalucia as Kimhe describes, and then spend the rest of the time driving up through Extremadura. Caceres, Yuste, Plasencia, the Valle del Jerte, are just a few of the stops would have, and I guess Avila and Salamanca would be easy stops on this route as well. I'm not suggesting you'd have time to visit all of these places, but that's one route worth considering.

The only other suggestion I would have is to check with your car rental agency before you take a rental car from Portugal into Spain. We have done that many times, but Budget Car in the Lisbon airport told us last year that without additional coverage, we would be up a creek if something happened to the car in Spain. We didn't bother to spend the time to get the details but just went ahead and paid the supplement, but I was surprised to learn that crossing the border, though it's entirely legal, may have coverage implications.

The Parador at Jarandilla la Vera has a lovely view; I recommend a stop there..

On the same trip we stayed at the Caceres Parador which is lovely but I do not remember a view. It would be a shame to miss Caceres, though.

I wrote a trip report that includes stays at both those inns, as well as the Segovia parador, which is modern and not on your route in any case.

Thank you so much for your recommendations everyone. I am now going to be searching through maps and websites as I continue my research.

Do you recommend making reservations before we leave home or is it possible to book a hotel as you arrive in October/Nov.? I don't know how long it takes to get from one place to another and what if we get distracted?

Hi, Lesley_Ann,

Just a couple of additional comments. Though you didn't ask, I personally don't find Albufeira to be terribly attractive. There is a TON or high rise coastal development (look at google images), but in Oct-Nov. you won't have crowds. If I were going to spend a day or two on the Algarve, I'd either make it further west near Lagos (but that seems silly since you're ultimately headed east) or further east near Tavira, which is itself a pretty town.

The Caceres parador has recently been renovated, and it sits inside an incredible renaissance building, which itself sits inside an incredible renaissance historic core. If Caceres were in Italy or France, it'd be overrun by tourists. Instead, it's an off-the-beaten-path destination in Spain. And if you are a fan of roman ruins, probably the best in the Iberian peninsula are in Merida (though Portugal might disagree), which is a quick trip south from Caceres.

October/November is not high tourist time, so you'll get low rates and low occupancy. If you like traveling without a reservation, this is one of the best times of the year to do it, in my opinion, because the odds are high that you'll have a lot of crisp, sunny fall days.

Lucky you.

Thanks all for your suggestions. I have a tentative itinerary - Lisbon, Sevilla, Ronda, Malaga, Nerja, Granada, Alpujarras Region, Valencia, Madrid, Toledo, Jarandilla la Vera, Caceres, Merida, Lisbon. What do you think?

We will be landing in Lisbon early morning from Canada and picking up a car. Is it advisable to try and get to Sevilla that same day? Also does anyone have any suggestions as to where to stay in Sevilla? I would also appreciate any feedback as to how long to stay in each place ... we have 22 days in total.
Thanks again for everyone's advice.

14 cities in22 days seem like a lot of driving, checking in and out of hotel, packing and unpacking.
Even if you like to move around , II still don' know how you can see much of cities like Seville, Madrid, Valencia or Lisbon in a day or two.

Good advice. Some of these may be visits i.e. go through Ronda on way to Malaga and stay there for a period of time. Visit Nerja on the way to Granada and locate there for awile.

Hi, Lesley_Ann,

I consider myself a pretty active traveler, and I don't mind moving around a lot, but even I find this to be overly ambitious by a lot. Though the mileage total might not be more than 1500 miles, totally drive-able in 22 days, the going in and out of cities adds a lot of time to the itinerary. You've got four major cities -- Lisbon, Sevilla, Valencia, Madrid. Three full days in each would seem to me to be a minimum (though you might spend only two in Sevilla), plus at least a half day on either end for getting in and out, already brings you to a total of 16 days, leaving six for the other 10 destinations and all the mileage in between.

I take it that you are flying in and out of Lisbon, so that's fixed. If it were up to me, I'd remove Malaga, Valencia, Madrid, and Toledo, and just focus on Lisbon, Sevilla, Andalucia (Granada, maybe Ronda), and Caceres/Merida. Even that might be too much for a 22 day trip, I'm sure some of the regular posters here would say that.

Only you know how often you like to check out of a hotel, get back in the car, drive into another city and repeat the process in reverse. But you should map this out on a day by day hypothetical itinerary, and see if you can find a way to do it comfortably. Good luck!

That's 4 cities too many.

Are you wanting to spend any time in Portugal? Lisbon itself?

I think 2 or 3 days for each city is about right - Seville and Madrid maybe 4, some of the others maybe only 2. I personally wouldn't go all the way to Valencia. If it were me I'd do: Seville 4, Ronda 2 (with day trips to other white towns: Zaharah and Grazalema), Malaga 3 (day trip to Nerja), Granada 3, Cordoba 1, Toledo 2-3, Madrid 2-3, Segovia 2, Salamanca 2, back to Lisbon.

I have photos of all those places (in various galleries, all labeled) at: http://www.pbase.com/annforcier

I have also done trip reports, click on my name and then scroll back, some of them were several years ago but there are reports from Malaga/Ronda, the rest of Andalucia (Seville, Cordoba,Granada), Central Spain (Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, Salamanca), and Portugal.

Both Toledo and Segovia can be seen in a day. Some prefer to stay the night.
Seville 3 max., Granada 2 .

I'm not that afraid of moving around. With good planning this could be an excellent adventure. Depends on what you want of course, but your plan sounds like a good one for a great "on the road" driving tour in the countryside with some city pauses. Stay a couple of nights in perhaps Lisboa, Sevilla, Nerja (for a couple of beach days), Madrid and Cáceres.

You could easily have spent all your time in any of these and many other great cities along your way, but I kind of like the "energy" in your plan.

In plain fantastic Sevilla, I like to stay in what the locals call centre, north of the touristy Santa Cruz area where the most famous sights are. Basic and good value Hostal Museo is next door to the Fine Arts museum and 10-15 mins walking to the Cathedral/Reales Alcazares etc. http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/host...-us.html?dva=0

In the very popular Santa Cruz district, Apartementos Murillo is a good option: http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/sevi...urillo.en.html

Perhaps experience genuine flamenco at Casa de la Memória in the middle of the Santa Cruz district? Popular with tourists, but only great artists perform here. They should at least give you a taste of how wonderful this art form can be: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...Andalusia.html

Go into the night in the real deal Rejoneo bar in the Triana district (C/ Betis, 33), across the river Guadalquivir? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPZT3ADgWsw

Relax after a long drive in the Arab bath house Aire de Sevilla? http://www.airedesevilla.com/

"I don't know how long it takes to get from one place to another..."

You can use Mappy to find routes, time, distance and estimated fuel cost and consumption. Here's a link to the UK site:

http://en.mappy.com/itinerary_homepage